Sebastian's pov

"And you said she is a human?" Kael, my beta, looked at me perplexed and I merely hummed in agreement.

I clenched my fists and went back to attacking the punching bag in front of me.

"Battering the punching bag won't offer you a solution." Kael pointed out and as much as I didn't want to agree with him, I knew he was right.

"It would, however, reduce the urge I have to strangle something or someone." I looked at him pointedly but he merely chuckled.

I flexed my fingers as I paused my assault on the punching bag and  tried to calm my raging emotions and ragged breath.

"Why would the moon goddess give me a human as a mate?" I frowned.

"Are you sure you weren't merely attracted to this human?" Kael asked and my wolf growled within me.

"I think I would know what attraction feels like Kael. My wolf yearned to mark this human right on the spot. I have never felt so aware of another person neither had my wolf ever lost control like I almost had when she stood mere inches away from me." I revealed annoyed by Kael's insinuation.

One of my men walked into the gym and bowed.

"What is it?" I gritted out, unable to mask my irritation and frustrations.

"I have the report you asked for Alpha." He replied, snagging my attention.

Without another word I took the file from him and walked into my office, slamming the door shut behind me.

I poured myself a glass of whiskey before I settled in my chair and began skimming through the file.

Cassandra...that was my mate's name.

Such a sweet, meek name was befitting for her but behind that meek, calm exterior I sensed a heat, a fire and an uncontrollable passion behind her eyes, waiting to be explored.

The prophecy claimed my mate would be the one to redeem the werewolf world and lift the curse so how could my mate be a human?

I was at a loss for how to handle the situation as I read through the file containing everything seemed important about my little human mate.

I took a slow sip of my whiskey as an idea formed in my mind.

"Kael." I shouted and within seconds he appeared at my doorway.

"For the next few days you are in charge of the pack. I have a quick errand to run." I informed him and I could see the question swirling in his eyes but he merely nodded and left the room.

"I'm coming Cassandra." I muttered as I looked out the window.

****

"I must admit I do not understand." Curtis, Cassandra's father stared at me in confusion.

The man was trying to feign ignorance and I smirked.

"Mr. Peterson, this paper clearly shows how many gambling establishments you owe." I pushed the paper with outrageous figures towards him.

He scanned the paper for a moment before his panicked eyes looked at me.

"How did you get this?" He asked.

"So you do not deny it?" I quirked a brow.

"I made some bad decisions on most of those gambling tables but I promised to pay them back." He confessed.

"And how do you intend to do that?" I pushed.

Curtis grappled for words but came up short.

"I have a proposition for you. One which would benefit us both." I began and the man's eyes looked weary.

"I'm listening." He nodded.

"I would pay off all your debts and set you up on an allowance which would afford you to live comfortably." I looked him dead in the eyes.

"In exchange, I want your daughter Cassandra to follow me back to my pack and stay as my mate." I dropped the other shoe and the man's eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets.

"You are insinuating I sell my child Alpha." The man pointed out.

"It wouldn't be selling because she is my mate and with or without you I'll still claim her." I shrugged.

The man contemplated my words for a moment.

"Cassandra is a free spirit, she would never be forced to do anything she doesn't want to." He warned me.

"Leave her to me, all you have to do is sign these documents and I'll do the rest." I pushed the agreement I had drawn up towards him.

He read it's contents carefully.

"You'll pay for all my debts?" He asked again.

"Every last one of them." I assured him and his eyes roamed around my face, searching.

He either seemed to be pleased with whatever he found or he desperately wanted to clear off his debts. Either ways he signed the papers with determination and pushed them back towards me.

"If this wasn't in my favour, I would applaud you on just how easy it was to hand your daughter over to a stranger just for money." I sneered.

What if it weren't me but another man who had made Cassandra's father such an offer and he hadn't refused.

My wolf growled at the thought.

"You may inform her if you wish and I'll make the necessary arrangements to have her join me in my home." I informed her father and he sucked in a sharp breath.

Without another word I strolled out of the man's office, a satisfied smirk on my lips.

Cassandra's pov

"What do you mean we are in debt?" I stared at my father in confusion.

He looked anywhere but at me and it irritated me to no end.

"You already know I have an addiction to gambling-" my father began and I groaned.

"I thought you had sorted that out and we had moved on from that?" I asked.

"I'm sorry but I couldn't stop Cassandra, no matter how hard I tried." He confessed and a slow sense of dread washed over me.

I was beyond disappointed in my dad.

"How much do you owe?" I asked softly, trying to control the rage within me.

"We owe nothing. All our- my debts have been paid off." He informed me and I scrunched my brows in confusion.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

My father looked at me with such pain and guilt in his grey orbs and the anticipation of what he would say nearly killed me.

"A man visited me a while back and offered to pay all my debts." He said casually as if it were no big deal.

"What did he want in return?" I probbed and my father looked away.

"Did you sell our house?" I asked.

"No, I assure you I did not." He gushed out.

"Then what did he want?" I bit out, unable to bear the suspense.

"You." My father whispered so softly I almost didn't hear him.

"Excuse me?" I looked at him bemused.

"He claimed that you were his mate and he would claim you wether or not I agreed to his deal and signed the papers." He explained hurriedly.

My eyes bulged at the word 'mate'.

No, it couldn't be.

How possible was it that the Lycan had found me?

"You signed papers?" I asked much calmly.

"The man wanted a binding document to our agreement." He divulged.

"Do I mean so little to you that you could easily sell me off to the first person who makes an offer?" I asked him cooly.

"I was desperate Cassie. The gambling dens were hounding me for their money and I had no idea where I would pay all of them off. They wanted to lock me up." His eyes pleaded with me to understand with him but I refused to.

"Did you tell me about this? You decided to make bad decisions, one after the other and it's not enough that as your daughter I am expected to clean up your messes, you had to actively involve me in one." Tears clouded my eyes and pain seared through me.

"What about college, I'm due to finish in a few months. Did you ever for once sit and think that I had a life which I wanted to live and signing those papers would take away my choice and freedom from me?" I asked, my voice cracked as I spoke.

"Cassie." My father's eyes brimmed with tears but I wasn't fooled.

With one last stare at him I made my way out of the house, slamming the door behind me.

I was tired of everyone making decisions which affected my life without thinking to consult me about it.

First it was Theo and now it was my own father.

Did I really mean that little to him?

Pure betrayal cursed through me and I bit my bottom lip as hot angry tears trailed down my cheek.

I plopped down by the lake which was not too far off from my house. I needed a moment of peace and the calm of the lake offered me that.

"I would kill whoever it is that put such sadness in your eyes." A deep baritone voice which invaded my dreams pulled me out of my depressing thoughts.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as I stared at the Lycan who looked so prim and put together in his plain black button down shirt and brown trousers. Once again his sheer dominance and authority perplexed me and I could tell without a doubt this man belonged to the highest class of society.

He oozed money, class and power.

None of the things I possessed in the slightest.

"I can imagine your father has informed you of our agreement?" He cocked his head to the side, breaking my chain of thoughts and I loathed my treacherous mind for noticing how devastatingly handsome he looked.

"You must be mad if you really think I would follow you." I gritted out.

The Lycan observed me for a moment before he plopped down on the floor beside me.

"Why did you run away from me?" He asked lowly, his eyes never leaving mine.

"You must see that your words were alarming. You believed I was your mate and from what I can tell you still do, otherwise you wouldn't have struck such a ridiculous deal with my father." I replied.

"You are my mate." He simply affirmed, looking at the lake.

For a moment I looked at the path which led into the bustling city and I was tempted to run away for the second time.

"I let you go the first time because I was also in shock and needed time to process things but trust me Cassandra, I will never let you run away from me again. You might as well kill the thought." He pinned me with a hard stare, telling me he meant every word he uttered and he knew what I was thinking.

This was it, I was trapped.

There wasn't a way out for me.

Cassandra's pov

I stared at the domineering sky scraper in front of me. Who the hell had a skyscraper as a pack house? Everything about the Lycans screamed money and they never wasted an opportunity to flaunt it.

"Welcome to your new home." The Lycan announced as he stood beside me. When it was glaringly obvious I had no where to run to, I had conceded but I knew it wasn't over and I would find my way out of the pack house no matter what.

I quietly followed behind the Lycan, ignoring the stares I was receiving as we walked. They stared at me as though I was an anomaly and in their world I guess I was. They were bo doubt wondering what a filthy little human was doing with one of their own.

"Alpha." A man whose face was pinched into a frown bowed as he addressed the Lycan.

Alpha?

My heart dropped as I recognized the title. It explained why this man's aura was so commanding and oozed of power. Was this a sick Joke? How would the alpha of the Lycans think I was his mate? Me, a human!

"Kael." The Lycan retorted.

"Is this her?" The man asked as he stared at me with an observant gaze. They had spoken about me?

"I'll show her to her room, you can wait for me in my office." The Lycan announced, ignoring the other man's question.

"Is this who?" A soft feminine voice asked and I turned to a beautiful sophisticated woman who had a small smile plastered on her face.

"Who is this Seb?" The woman asked as she assessed me with cold eyes. She had a softness to her but also a cold, calculating aura.

"No one you need to worry about Claire." The Lycan, Seb, retorted and the woman's eyes turned to slits.

"Why would you bring a human to the pack house? What would everyone think?" Her eyes darted back to me before she returned to the man who growled beside me.

"What I do is not to be questioned Claire, I'm the alpha and you had better remember your place," his voice held venom as he spoke.

"But I'm to be your Luna and that means I have a right to know things Seb," the woman announced defiantly and I stilled. If she was to be his Luna that meant they would most likely mate...where would that leave me? What would happen to me?

"I don't have time for this." Seb gritted out as he harshly gripped my arm and steered me away from the woman.

"Your hurting me." I called out to him as his hand squeezed my arm tightly. At my announcement he immediately let go of me and I gently massaged my sore arm with my fingers.

We stepped into the elevator and I pressed myself against the back of the metal as I tried to get as far away from this Lycan as I possibly could.

He stared at me for a second just before the elevator pinged and the doors slid open.

As I followed behind him I heard him nutter something about humans and how weak they were but I ignored it.

"Your room is directly next to mine." He announced as he held open a door to me. I slowly walked into the room and gasped at it's sheer magnificence. Everything about it was perfect and I couldn't help but wonder if I was in a dream.

"That is a conjoining door which will take you straight into my room-" he pointed to a door at the corner of the room.

"For now you are not to leave this room without me, you aren't allowed to wander aimlessly in the pack house unless I am at your side. If you need anything inform me and I'll have it delivered to you." The man announced and anger surged through me.

"Do you understand?" He quirked a brow at me when I remained silent.

"Just because I didn't put up a fight and I came here with you doesn't mean I'm your little prisoner who you can keep locked away forever." I gritted out but the man's countenance remained the same as he regarded me, save for a twitch of his lips.

"You look smart and I know you have already figured out I'm the Alpha king of the Lycans. You should also know that I am bound to have enemies, enemies who are waiting for the slightest hint of a weakness to use against me." The man stalked towards me as I backed away till I hit a wall. A low flame lit within me as I comprehended his words...he saw me as a liability, a weakness. What I couldn't understand though was why he hasn't just let me be, why did he have to drag me into his world?

"Finding my mate, a human at that, places you in great danger. No one needs to know right now that you are my mate, I'm already having a hard time figuring out what excuse I'll give for bringing a human to the pack house. I don't know what I'll do with you yet but for now, you stay in this room and talk to no one," he announced as he trapped me between himself and the wall.

My heart beat rapidly in my chest as I noticed his eyes flashing.

"Then why did you bring me here?" I croaked, ignoring the tears prickling the back of my eyes.

"My wolf needs you." He announced as he strolled away from me and towards the door.

"So what am I meant to do in here?" I called out to him as I hugged myself but h ignored me and gripped the door handle.

"I don't even know your name." I called out desperately.

The man paused for a second before he turned to me.

"Sebastian." He informed me with a nod before he left the room. A sob racked through me as I heard the soft nick indicating he had locked me in the room and my heart dropped.

Was this what my life would be like for the rest of my days?